Choosing the Christmas Cookie platter

 I can only write about the experiences that I have. But I believe that there is as least a thread of commonality that you could pick up on in my stories. Otherwise, I fear, you are currently reading this blog because you have no idea where I'm coming from, which as you can imagine is concerning. 

The decision did not come lightly, which cookies to make for the Christmas party. It can look easy on the outside looking in, when you  look at what someone brings to a potluck. You think, "Oh that's Patty and her famous sausage rolls" or "Oh here comes Jerry and his butter tarts". It implies ownership. Something that identifies that person and what they are not only good at making but that defines what they deem good enough to make and share with the ones they love. It says something about them. 

I sit down, every Day after Thanksgiving and contemplate what baking says about me. My interests lie in trying something new, you see. 

For example, I bought Turkish Delight in 12 flavors. So far, I found that if you are a fan of chewy sweets, and I am, and you like pistaschios, and I do, you will enjoy it. I also got some pate de fruit, in passionfruit, because I love it, love the flavor, love the spark of the sugar on the outside. It's a celebration, it's the sweetest tartest flavor that I can imagine and I sucked at getting them to firm up in school. 

There are books and internet images, recipes everywhere this time of year. So many choices. But what defines who you are, especially when you are someone who tries new things? Do I force my new candy trials on others? That doesn't sound like me. I'd rather make something that they will love. 

How many kinds of cookies do I make? If there are a dozen people do I need a dozen types of cookies to potentially please each person? Ew. That sounds like I'm just a people pleaser. 

Hmm, how many types of cookies are on a platter anyway? What I could find when I went looking was 6. Six kinds of cookies. Okay so that seems like a lot. Like I'd be in the kitchen all day for about 15 minutes of eating. Even if they grazed after dinner, claiming that they cannot eat one more bite, it is but a moment during an entire party's worth of eating. Maybe I am overthinking it. Well, of course I'm overthinking it. 

So what is my goal here? To make a platter that is not too big, doesn't try to hard, is something most people would like, has some variety in it, and seems festive enough to be called a Christmas platter. And I need to get it done in one sitting. Oh and the host had to be pleased with what I did. 

I contacted the host and asked what his favorite cookie was. Turns out it was a 7 layer bar, that really, I had made maybe one time? It sounded like a good start. And at least the host would be happy, even if no one else was.  This thing contained nuts, so I decided no other treat would contain nuts. That's one cookie down. 

Next I thought about, what makes a cookie scream Christmas? Gingerbread Men popped into my head. 
Here's the problem though, I have at least a thousand cookie cutters. It's almost as bad as my coffee mug problem. And worse, the cutters are in bags, kind of sorted, but definitely stacked, shoved in corners, and even in my organization, disorganized. Where was the one cutter I needed?

But a Christmas miracle occured, and the first bag contained some Christmasy cutters. I found one that looked like a gingerbread man with kind of kulats on, so he could be a she depending on the icing. My original plan here was to make some men and some women. But by the time I got to icing them, to be honest, I decided they would look like generic people with dots for buttons and eyes and a 'v' for a smile. Would anyone comment? I didn't care by then. I had to get to my Tai Chi demo. 

It was at the store that I decided to do a bark. I saw this cool Christmas bark that was just chocolate base, white chocolate over that and sprinkles. I had some fancy Christmas sprinkles from a few years ago that I never used. It looked cool and why not. People love to eat chocolate. 

Finally I decided on a sugar cookie spiraled with red, green, and plain. I had every intention of making them. But when I got done with the gingerbread and they had set, I started plating the cookies. Bark cut into triangle pointed in, no... better out, 7-layer bars stacked up in the middle because they were chunky and heavier. And Gingerbread Men alternating with the bark on the outside. Oh, that looks nice. 

I covered them with plastic wrap and set them up high (I have a dog). 

Then it dawned on me I hadn't make the other cookies. I looked at the platter. Then I looked at the ingredients still on the table. I considered the platter and what I had made. Was it enough?

Here are the guidelines I had apparently backed into: 

1. Start out withsomething the host will enjoy, their favorite cookie, perhaps

2. If that is a bar, with nuts, don't make anything else with nuts.  Or any other bars. 

3. Do you have chocolate? If not, put in an easy chocolate candy or buy truffles. Who said you had to bake it all?

4. Is at least one part of the platter something covered in sprinkles?

5. What constitutes a statement that this is a Christmas platter? Is it Gingerbread Men? Is it something peppermint? Does fruitcake factor in?

6. Make 3 things and alternate them for a group of 12. If there are 16 people, make 4 types. 

Was the platter successful? I'd say yes. At the end of the party there were two cookies left and the host got to enjoy his favorite. I didn't drop them ( a real risk in Michigan in the winter!) and They didn't take up too much room. 

I'm sure you want to see what it looked like, so here is the picture. 

I wish you good luck on your own platters. Try not to overthink it. In the end it will turn out fine, your friends will still love you, and you can always do a blog to show them just how much thought went into making them. Just kidding, don't do that. You'd definitely be trying too hard.